Essentials of Music

ONLINE GLOSSARY

Click on a letter above to look up terms in the online glossary

absolute music Music that has no literary, dramatic, or pictorial program. Also pure music.

a cappella Choral music performed without instrumental accompaniment.

accelerando Getting faster.

Example: Delibes, Sylvia Suite, "Pizzicato"
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This example remains steady in pulse, then slowly speeds up toward the end.

accent The emphasis on a beat resulting in that beat being louder or longer than another in a measure.

Example: Haydn, Symphony No.94 "Surprise", third movement
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In this example, the accented beat occurs at regular intervals, on every third pulse: 1 - 2 - 3 - 1 - 2 - 3.

accompagnato Accompanied; also a recitative that is accompanied by orchestra.

accordion A musical instrument with a small keyboard and free-vibrating metal reeds that sound when air is generated by pleated bellows.

acid rock Genre of American rock that emerged in the late 1960s, often associated with psychedelic drugs. Its style featured heavy amplification, instrumental improvisation, new sound technologies, and light shows.

adagio Quite slow.

Example: Grieg, Peer Gynt Suite, "Ase's Death"
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The melody is spun out at a regular but slow pace.

additive meter Groupings of irregular numbers of beats that add up to a larger, overall pattern (2 + 3 + 2 + 3 = 10).

ad libitum Indication that gives the performer the liberty to omit a section or to improvise.

aerophone World music classification for instruments that produce sound by using air as the primary vibrating means, such as flute, trumpet or whistle. The most common Western instruments of this category belong to the woodwind and brass families. Bagpipes are aerophones frequently used in some traditional music.

ad libitum Indication that gives the performer the liberty to omit a section or to improvise.

agitato Agitated or restless.

Agnus Dei A section of the Mass; the last musical movement of the Ordinary.

aleatory Indeterminate music in which certain elements of performance (such as pitch, rhythm or form) are left to choice or chance.

alla breve See cut time.

allegro Fast, cheerful.

Example: J.F. Wagner, Under the Double Eagle
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This march moves along at a regular, fast pace.

allemande German dance in moderate duple time, popular during the Renaissance and Baroque periods; often the first movement of a Baroque suite.

alto Lowest of the female voices. Also contralto.

Example: Handel, Messiah "O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion"
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This vocal example features the low female voice of an alto (short for "contralto").

andante Moderately slow or walking pace.

Example: Mozart, Piano Concerto in C major, K.467, second movement
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This example proceeds at a slow walking pace.

answer Second entry of the subject in a fugue, usually pitched a fourth below or a fifth above the subject.

anthem A religious choral composition in English; performed liturgically, the Protestant equivalent of the motet.

antiphonal Performance style in which an ensemble is divided into two or more groups, performing in alternation and then together.

antique cymbals Small disks of brass, held by the player one in each hand, that are struck together gently and allowed to vibrate.

arabesque Decorative musical material or a composition based on florid embellishment.

aria Lyric song for solo voice with orchestral accompaniment, generally expressing intense emotion; found in opera, cantata, and oratorio.

arioso Short, aria-like passage.

arpeggio Broken chord in which the individual tones are sounded one after another instead of simultaneously.

Example: Tchaikovsky, The Nutcracker, "Waltz of the Flowers"
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The harp frequently plays arpeggios, as in this example.

Ars Antiqua French sacred polyphonic musical style from the period c.1160-1320.

Ars Nova Fourteenth century French polyphonic musical style whose themes moved increasingly from religious to secular.

art rock Genre of rock that uses larger forms and more complex harmonies than other popular styles; occasionally quotes examples from classical music. Also progressive rock.

a tempo Return to the previous tempo.

atonality Total abandonment of tonality (centering in a key). Atonal music moves from one level of dissonance to another, without areas of relaxation.

attaca "Attack", proceed without a pause between movements.

augmentation Statement of a melody in longer note values, often twice as slow as the original.

aulot Double-reed pipe; played for public and religious functions in ancient Greece.

Click on a letter above to look up terms in the online glossary